2009-10 NHL Thread

[Stiker]

Mike Modano probably just played his last game in Dallas. Couldn't have gone out any better if he decides to call it quits: sick assist on the first goal, sends the game to OT, and then scores first in the shootout.

And there ends my nostalgia. Back to the Stars being completely irrelevant.

[Thoronas]

I gotta admit, when they showed the extended ovation and Modano on the bench getting misty eyed I shed a man tear, then shot gunned a beer.

[NynJa]

Well Montreal is still doing what they do best: choke to shit teams. Now they have to play everyone against Toronto, and since Toronto hates us like we hate them, they're gonna either:
dress all the goons and fuck us up, so our playoff run is done by our AHL team
play their best fucking game all year and do whatever they can to keep us out of the playoffs (provided Boston/Philly/NYR have done their part to qualify)

[Ishido]

Watching the Phoenix/LA game... Phoenix announcers think that no one wants the play the Yotes in the playoffs, and that they would rather play San Jose/Chicago/Vancouver... lol.

Also Detroit apparently has 1,689 man games of playoff experience on the roster.

[vagus]

Ya;ll watching this San Jose / Vancouver game? 6 Sharks, 5 'Cnucks in the penalty box. Total shit fest.

[Ishido]

Adrian Aucoin is fucking ridiculous lol. 6/8 on shootouts as D, all 6 game winning shots, all 6 in the exact same spot.

[Palin]

I gotta admit, when they showed the extended ovation and Modano on the bench getting misty eyed I shed a man tear, then shot gunned a beer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQDDi5xI2sY

What a memorable night. We're probably saying goodbye to two of our franchises greatest players, Modano and Turco. The ovation for Mo was so amazing.

[Ivaden]

Wow, very classy of the fans and Anaheim for that. Almost shed a man tear as well.

[Ishido]

Just watched that and then the game highlights. Fucking awesome game overall.

[Sepukku]

Mellon Arena blew that shit straight outta the water. It was like U-boats against today's nuclear Virginia class subs.

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/3625/img1150e.jpg

FLEURY GETTING READY TO UNDER-PERFORM AGAIN:
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/9353/img1153h.jpg

MARK EATON AND BROOKS ORPIK PREPARE TO STOP HIM:
http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/198/img1154n.jpg

ALEX GOLIGOSKI:
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/4175/img1155v.jpg

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/6590/img1162x.jpg
http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/4365/img1163k.jpg
Came in at 6 PM sharp after an amazing pizza dinner at Monte Cello's down the road in town and watching some of the Pens arrive. Took photos of everything, walked a lap around the main level of the arena one final time (*sad face*). Eventually returned to our seats in time for the ceremony (unlike SOME people who apparently didn't get the memo).

Opening ceremony video was sick and then they rolled out the carpet and it was nuts. Trottier, Pieterangelo (and I had to explain "The Save" to my girlfriend), Bob Errey, Craig Patrick, Gary Roberts all got standing O's but when Lemieux came out it was outright defeaning. I thought I got a text - OH WAIT THATS JUST THE GROUND SHAKING. After all the alumni came out, the Pens left the bench and got a big team picture with the alumni.

GARY ROBERTS:
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3664/img1172b.jpg

ALL THE PENGUINS, ALUMNI AND PRESENT:
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/4337/img1174.jpg

Game started, players legs tired? Players minds distracted from what they just got to enjoy? NOPE. 23 SECONDS IN, PENS SCORE AND THE ARENA EXPLODES PREMATURELY. COME ON GUYS - YOU FORGOT WE STILL GOT THE CIRCUS IN TOWN THIS WEEKEND AND PLAYOFFS THE NEXT TWO MONTHS.

5 minutes in. Guess who. ALEX FREAKING GOLIGOSKI. BOOM. More dynamite goes off in the depths of the old building. No one says a word about my jersey selection from there on out.

Islanders try to make it a game, occasionally scoring to keep themselves in it. 2-1 Islanders. Malkin steals the puck and goes coast to coast and actually doesn't fuck up on a breakaway: 3-1 Pens. Some silly Islanders goal, 3-2. Pens counter with Crosby's 49th and its 4-2, all in the first period.

Martin Biron, aka French Toast, is gone. 4 goals on 10 shots, none of them massive screens or re-directions except maybe screened on the 1st. Enjoy the Euro league, loser.

Islanders open the 2nd period scoring, 4-3 Pens. At some point during the 2nd period Fleury makes the save of a lifetime against some stoner from the East side. Seriously, if that save was in the SCF, it supplants all other remarkable goaltending saves ever and I'm not exaggerating as a Pens fan. Im gonna find a youtube for it.

Pens Power Play. *Dramatic music* Pens score on what appeared to be Crosby's 50th. Hysteria breaks out, along with an MVP chant. 5-3. Before the announcers can even announce "Crosby's" goal, Pens score again, 6-3. Islanders are sinking like Atlantis and the Civic Arena is becoming quite the unruly place.

2nd Intermission. Sometime around now they showed one of the Pens tribute videos for ex-Pens, this one to Matthew Barnaby. I just could not clap, at all. Only two people I failed to acknowledge all night were Eddie Olcyzek and Matthew Barnaby, but at least Eddie O I yelled, "Thanks for running the team into the ground so we got Crosby!"

3rd Period. Billy Guerin scores a minute in, 7-3. Grumblings in the stand about "We want 10." Stephane Auger hears that and can't do anything right, so he gives Ponikarovsky a 5 minute boarding major for something I didn't see clearly, as it was along the wall closest to me. Anyways, effectively ended the game, the final 18 minutes were played in relative calm, but the hysteria escalated towards the end with a standing O for the final minute breaking into jubilation when an Islander takes a penalty with 40 seconds to go. Incoming Crosby hat trick. Stephane Auger yells "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO STOP FUCKING HAVING FUN" and gives Crosby a minor penalty like 5 seconds into the power play and Crosby spends the final minute in the box. Whatever. Perhaps that proves Pens don't get preferential treatment, even in nearly-meaningless "feel good" games.

More celebration. More video/etc going on for the Arena.

Fans "Shirts of our Backs" campaign. Yawn. Bunch of losers get jerseys, not one of them aged 18-25. All kids or 45 year old adults. Highlighting exchange was a 4 year old girl getting Mike Rupp's jersey hahaha

After that, one final video for Mellon Arena which I got perfectly on camera and will be Youtubing at some point this weekend and we departed. No autographs since there was a massive crowd outside for once. Usually its like 100 people only, but its also usually sub-30 degrees Farenheit outside. Stupid unusually warm april.

[Selamis]

Man, watched the Sharks/Canucks game last night and was thoroughly entertained. 73 minutes of penalties combined in the third period, 71 of which came in about a three-four minute period where it was nothing but goonery every whistle. Bravo. Not even the playoffs and was one of the best games I've seen recently, even though the game itself sucked lol.

[Stiker]

The Modano ovation was indeed awesome, but then I got scared shitless when the Ducks scored immediately after the emotional moment to take the lead with just over 5 min to go. Thankfully that set the stage for Modano to tie the game up and be made of magic so I can't complain.

[Stiker]

What a memorable night. We're probably saying goodbye to two of our franchises greatest players, Modano and Turco. The ovation for Mo was so amazing.

Don't forget we are also likely saying goodbye to Jere Lehtinen as well. He is the second longest tenured athlete on the Stars and in Dallas' history as well.

That fact made the shootout even more Disney-like. Modano gets the deciding goal, Turco stones everyone cold, and Jere put the game away.

[Callisto]

Yeah just saw a 2-minute deal on Sportcenter about Madano, you know it's a big deal in the hockey world if it actually gets more than 20 seconds of ESPN airtime, lol.

[Ivaden]

tl;dr

Ponikarovsky's boarding major and game misconduct happened right in front of me, and he deserved every minute. I thought the guy died right in front of me, sounded like he was going to break through the board. But it was still nice to see that Ponikarovsky is actually physical. Once him and Malkin form some more chemistry, they're going to be a pretty big duo, hopefully it happens by next week.

[Sepukku]

Ponikarovsky's boarding major and game misconduct happened right in front of me, and he deserved every minute. I thought the guy died right in front of me, sounded like he was going to break through the board. But it was still nice to see that Ponikarovsky is actually physical. Once him and Malkin form some more chemistry, they're going to be a pretty big duo, hopefully it happens by next week.

Hes on the Islanders, who cares? How awesome would a 10-spot have been? That woulda made the game go from a 1000 on an awesomeness scale of 1-10 to like a 1054. Hopefully he gets off with 2 games maximum for it. I looked for a youtube this morning, nothing was posted yet of it.

[Sepukku]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sOsGDwTtdU

Fleury's save - its actually 3 saves by 3 different players in about 4 seconds and they exponentially get better, going from average, to good, to outright insane.

[Bregor]

FML, I knew I'd find this sooner or later:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmiUYiERIBY

[Selamis]

^ LOL, good game. Tell the Caps to go back to those blue jerseys, they looked so much beter than the red and blue that they wear now.

[Bregor]

^ LOL, good game. Tell the Caps to go back to those blue jerseys, they looked so much beter than the red and blue that they wear now.

I still rock my blue Bondra and black Kolzig jerseys from time to time. I love the looks I get from the bandwagon fans that think it's from another team. I like the Caps new jerseys too, but the road white looks so much cleaner than the red. Too bad it goes against the whole "Rock the Red" campaign which has been so successful. I am thankful we don't have some hideous third jersey mash-up of all three colors, or something completely random like powder blue.